Unified algorithm for efficient pure exploration using dual variables.
problem Efficiently achieving a specific goal through adaptive experimentation.
method Introducing dual variables to derive optimal allocation conditions, leading to Information-Directed Selection.
result Top-two Thompson sampling attains asymptotic optimality for Gaussian best-arm identification.
Top-two algorithm improved for best-k-arm selection.
problem Best-k-arm identification in multi-armed bandits.
method Information-directed selection based on dual variables.
result Top-two Thompson sampling with IDS is asymptotically optimal.
Mirror descent linked to information ratio via Bayesian regret bounds.
problem Understanding stability in mirror descent and its relation to information ratio.
method Developed a connection between mirror descent and information ratio using Bayesian regret bounds.
result Mirror descent with suitable estimators and distributions achieves bounds similar to information-directed sampling.
IDS improves sparse linear bandits by balancing information and regret.
problem Sparse linear bandits in high-dimensional decision-making.
method Information-directed sampling (IDS) with Bayesian regret bounds and empirical Bayesian sparse posterior sampling.
result IDS nearly matches existing lower bounds and significantly reduces regret.
Optimizes stochastic linear bandits with efficient, asymptotically optimal algorithm.
problem Optimizing stochastic linear bandits with multiple actions.
method Frequentist information-directed sampling (IDS) with a surrogate for information gain.
result Asymptotically optimal and nearly worst-case optimal in finite time.
New pricing algorithm learns demand curves and optimizes prices in dynamic markets.
problem Dynamic pricing in markets with incomplete demand information and shifting conditions.
method Actor-Critic Information-Directed Pricing (ACIDP) using IDS algorithms and auditing procedures.
result ACIDP outperforms UCB and TS in market environment shifts.
New bounds on IDS for RL show how to balance computation and learning efficiency.
problem Understanding and optimizing information-directed sampling (IDS) for reinforcement learning.
method Developed novel information-theoretic tools to bound information ratio and cumulative information gain.
result Derived prior-free Bayesian regret bounds for IDS in tabular finite-horizon MDPs and improved computational efficiency.
Unified framework for ranking-and-selection with multiple correct answers and non-answerable estimates
problem Fixed-precision ranking-and-selection in structured settings with non-unique answers and non-answerable estimates
method Unified framework based on answer-wise acceptance sets, restricted generalized likelihood ratio stopping, and answer-pitfall decomposition
result Unified recipe performs well across a broad range of pure-exploration problems
Bayesian optimization improved for biased data.
problem Adversarial bias in observations, especially hidden confounders.
method Reduction to dueling bandits, information-directed sampling (IDS).
result First efficient kernelized algorithm with regret guarantees.
Partial monitoring is a rich framework for sequential decision making under uncertainty that generalizes many well known bandit models, including linear, combinatorial and dueling bandits. We introduce information directed sampling (IDS) for stochastic partial monitoring with a linear reward and observation structure. …
Efficient exploration remains a major challenge for reinforcement learning. One reason is that the variability of the returns often depends on the current state and action, and is therefore heteroscedastic. Classical exploration strategies such as upper confidence bound algorithms and Thompson sampling fail to appropri…
2L-FUSE enhances feature sparsity through kernel learning.
problem Sparsity and feature selection in regression tasks.
method 2-Layered kernel machines for learning a shape matrix and feature direction identification.
result Minimal yet informative feature sets are identified without losing predictive performance.
We propose a novel algorithm for sequential matrix completion in a recommender system setting, where the ( i , j ) (i,j) ( i , j ) th entry of the matrix corresponds to a user i i i 's rating of product j j j . The objective of the algorithm is to provide a sequential policy for user-product pair recommendation which will yield the highest pos…
IDS improves reinforcement learning with contextual information.
problem Optimizing IDS for contextual reinforcement learning.
method Investigated contextual bandit problems and proposed a computationally-efficient IDS.
result Contextual IDS outperforms conditional IDS by considering future contexts.
ASD algorithm maximizes model estimates by adaptively labeling points.
problem Maximizing model estimates through adaptive labeling of points in a sequential decision-making problem.
method Formulated a general information-directed sampling (IDS) algorithm with theoretical guarantees for linear, graph, and low-rank models.
result IDS algorithm outperforms in both simulation and real-data experiments for discovering chemical reaction conditions.
Novel algorithms for multi-agent reinforcement learning reduce sample complexity.
problem Efficiently learning Nash equilibria in multi-agent settings.
method Information-Directed Sampling (IDS) principles applied to multi-agent reinforcement learning.
result Sample-efficient algorithms for learning Nash equilibria in various multi-agent settings.
Hypermodels improve exploration efficiency and accuracy.
problem Efficiently approximating Thompson sampling with large ensembles.
method Introducing hypermodels as a generalization of ensembles, including linear and neural network hypermodels.
result Hypermodels enable more accurate exploration and performance gains over Thompson sampling.
We consider numerical schemes for root finding of noisy responses through generalizing the Probabilistic Bisection Algorithm (PBA) to the more practical context where the sampling distribution is unknown and location-dependent. As in standard PBA, we rely on a knowledge state for the approximate posterior of the root l…
We consider stochastic multi-armed bandit problems with graph feedback, where the decision maker is allowed to observe the neighboring actions of the chosen action. We allow the graph structure to vary with time and consider both deterministic and Erdős-Rényi random graph models. For such a graph feedback model, we fir…
A new algorithm STE for model-based RL improves learning rates.
problem Sparse rewards and computational intractability of estimating information gain.
method Developed a novel algorithm based on Stein Information Directed Exploration (STE)E.
result Achieves sublinear Bayesian regret, outperforming prior approaches.
New IDS algorithm refines parameter norm bounds for better bandit performance.
problem Frequentist IDS requires tight norm bounds, which are often unavailable in practice.
method Iteratively refines a high-probability upper bound on true parameter norm using data.
result Regret bounds independent of assumed parameter norm, outperforming state-of-the-art algorithms.
Studying a softmax-attention model, we show that the learned query converges to the latent signal subspace spanned by the informative direction.
problem Understanding the theoretical principles of attention mechanisms in large-scale token collections.
method Deriving a population objective and analyzing the limiting ordinary differential equation of the learning dynamics.
result The learned query asymptotically recovers the latent signal up to the intrinsic sign ambiguity.
Information extraction and user intention identification are central topics in modern query understanding and recommendation systems. In this paper, we propose DeepProbe, a generic information-directed interaction framework which is built around an attention-based sequence to sequence (seq2seq) recurrent neural network…
In the stochastic bandit problem, the goal is to maximize an unknown function via a sequence of noisy evaluations. Typically, the observation noise is assumed to be independent of the evaluation point and to satisfy a tail bound uniformly on the domain; a restrictive assumption for many applications. In this work, we c…
IDS algorithm optimizes sequential decisions in various monitoring settings.
problem Optimizing sequential decisions in complex monitoring scenarios.
method Information-directed sampling (IDS) algorithm for linear partial monitoring.
result IDS achieves nearly worst-case rate optimality in finite-action games.
Two multifidelity trust-region methods use low-fidelity models for efficient optimization.
problem Efficiently solving complex optimization problems with limited data.
method Sketched Trust-Region (STR) and SVD Trust-Region (SVDTR) methods using low-fidelity models.
result Potential gain in efficiency demonstrated through numerical examples.
Improved regret bounds for bandit phase retrieval.
problem Minimizing cumulative and simple regret in a bandit phase retrieval problem.
method Proved minimax cumulative and simple regret bounds using adaptive algorithms.
result Minimax cumulative regret is i l d e Θ ( d n ) ilde{\Theta}(d \sqrt{n}) i l d e Θ ( d n ) and minimax simple regret is i l d e Θ ( d / n ) ilde{\Theta}(d / \sqrt{n}) i l d e Θ ( d / n ) . Improves neural network search in combinatorial spaces of mathematical symbols.
problem Early commitment and initialization bias limit exploration in neural network search.
method Entropy regularization and distribution initialization methods.
result Improves performance, increases sample efficiency, lowers solution complexity.
Proper balance between exploitation and exploration is what makes good decisions, which achieve high rewards like payoff or evolutionary fitness. The Infomax principle postulates that maximization of information directs the function of diverse systems, from living systems to artificial neural networks. While specific a…
Bayesian metalearning improves performance in linear bandits with misspecified priors.
problem Improper priors lead to suboptimal performance in sequential decision-making.
method Proves performance bounds for metalearning priors in stochastic linear bandits and develops a metalearning algorithm.
result Metalearning can improve performance by learning the prior from multiple tasks.
Many real-world graphs or networks are temporal, e.g., in a social network persons only interact at specific points in time. This information directs dissemination processes on the network, such as the spread of rumors, fake news, or diseases. However, the current state-of-the-art methods for supervised graph classific…
A new method optimizes projection directions for sliced Wasserstein distances.
problem Finding informative projecting directions for sliced Wasserstein distances is computationally expensive.
method Amortized projection optimization to predict directions efficiently.
result Proposed amortized models improve generative modeling performance.
Meta-learning performance is affected by how task diversity is allocated, not just overall variability.
problem Meta-learning performance degrades when task diversity is unevenly distributed.
method Decomposed task-specific regression effects into structurally informative and orthogonal components.
result Meta-learning prediction degrades when a larger fraction of task variability is orthogonal and non-informative.
Many applications in machine learning require optimizing a function whose true gradient is unknown, but where surrogate gradient information (directions that may be correlated with, but not necessarily identical to, the true gradient) is available instead. This arises when an approximate gradient is easier to compute t…
DCGANs generate drainage networks quickly from samples.
problem High computational costs in generating large numbers of drainage networks.
method DCGANs trained with connectivity-informed directional information.
result Connectivity-informed DCGANs outperform other methods in reproducing accurate drainage networks.
DDCL-INCRT learns its own structure during training, reducing unnecessary complexity.
problem Fixed-size neural network architectures require manual tuning, leading to overfitting.
method Combines DDCL (Deep Dual Competitive Learning) and INCRT (Incremental Transformer) to self-organize network structure.
result The network self-organizes into a hierarchy of heads, reducing unnecessary complexity.
New method estimates selection event for black-box models.
problem Infeasibility of conditional selective inference due to unavailable selection event.
method Bootstrapping to estimate selection event and conditional distribution.
result Feasibility of conditional selective inference for models without exact selection event.
Cluster stability selection improves feature selection in correlated data.
problem Feature selection stability in correlated data.
method Cluster stability selection exploiting known cluster structure.
result Better predictive performance than lasso alone and stability selection.
New method corrects selection bias in post-selective inference for Group LASSO.
problem Inference after Group LASSO selection is unreliable.
method Develops a consistent, post-selective Bayesian method to adjust for selection bias.
result Corrects bias in recovering effects of selected variables.
Proposes PEMI for online selective conformal prediction with asymmetric rules.
problem Challenges of handling asymmetric selection mechanisms in online selective conformal prediction.
method PEMI: permutation-based framework for selective conformal prediction with arbitrary asymmetric selection rules.
result Achieves exact selection-conditional coverage for any asymmetric selection mechanism and any prediction model.
The paper addresses errors in online selective conformal prediction and proposes new strategies to ensure valid inference.
problem Online selective conformal prediction's exchangeability issues and false coverage rate control problems.
method Evaluation and correction of existing calibration selection strategies, proposing new ones that preserve exchangeability.
result Novel calibration selection strategies ensure both selection-conditional coverage and FCR control.
This work develops scalable model selection methods with fast update and selection.
problem Efficient model selection for large pools of candidate models.
method Isolated model embedding, which supports asymptotically fast update and selection.
result Standardized Embedder achieves competitive model selection performances.
Online method selects candidates from data streams, ensuring irreversible decisions.
problem Conformal selection's incompatibility with irreversible decisions in online scenarios.
method Online Conformal Selection with Accept-to-Reject Changes (OCS-ARC) incorporating online Benjamini-Hochberg procedure.
result OCS-ARC controls FDR at or below nominal level, improving selection power.
Paper improves k k k -NN predictive performance with efficient variable selection.
problem Improving predictive performance of k k k -NN models. method Efficient forward selection of predictor variables.
result Novel approach approaches outperformance of stepwise selection models.
Value selection reduces model size while maintaining accuracy.
problem Space efficiency in model size reduction.
method Two probabilistic methods based on information theory's metric: PVS and P + VS.
result Value selection achieves balance between accuracy and model size reduction.
Proposes HSIC-Lasso for selective inference in non-linear data.
problem Detecting influential features in non-linear and high-dimensional data.
method Model-free HSIC-Lasso based on truncated Gaussians and polyhedral lemma.
result Tight control of type-I error even for small sample sizes.
Paper proposes a statistical test for feature selection pipelines using selective inference.
problem Assessing the significance of feature selection pipelines in data analysis.
method Selective inference technique applied to feature selection pipelines composed of various algorithms.
result The proposed statistical test controls false positive feature selection probabilities.
New method improves feature selection by integrating stability paths.
problem Improving feature selection with tighter false positive control.
method Integrating stability paths to strengthen theoretical bounds on E(FP).
result Significantly more true positives with same E(FP) control.